There very easily could be a middle ground. If there was one source to stream data from and have a single login/payment where you selected your content sources

There very easily could be a middle ground. If there was one source to stream data from and have a single login/payment where you selected your content sources and they were added to your single bill, I don't think any consumer would be unhappy. Paying for the content you consume isn't the problem is either paying for extra content you don't use with cable, or keeping track of numerous providers and having to authenticate all of them whenever I get a new device or change cards. The content creating companies don't want this however as they would lose power in this arrangement and probably make less money. That'll just lead to rampant piracy again. As we've seen with every type of digital good where consuming it legally was difficult/frustratinf